Preset or predetermined type counter



Jan. 25, 1966 B. J. WOLLAR 3,231,190

PRESET OR PREDETERMINED TYPE COUNTER Filed Feb. l5, 1963 F/G. 4,//6 l i /af www BY BAAN United States Patent O land Filed Feb. 15, 1963, Ser. No. 258,806 4 Claims. (Cl. 23S-132) The present invention relates to improved means and techniques for producing a control operation after a predeter-mined number of revolutions of a driven element and more specifically to improvements in preset or predetermined-type counters that are used, for example, in coil winding procedures wherein rotation of a coil spool is stopped after a predetermined-number of turns of wire is wound on the same.

Briefly, the arrangement described herein involves generally a Veeder-Root type counter having a plurality of number wheels, each with a gear thereon, such gear being used to drive a switch actuating member, in the form of a magnet, the magnet cooperating with a reed-type switch which is adjustably positioned in one of a plurality of indeXed positions corresponding respectively to the positions of the numbers on the number wheel. Thus, when the number Wheel is rotated a particular angular distance corresponding to the adjusted position of t-he switch, the switch is operated to effect a control operation. More specifically, the switch thus associated with each number wheel is connected in a series circuit with like switches such that a control operation is eiiected in accordance with the adjusted positions of each of the switches.

It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide a predetermined counter of the character indicated above.

A specific object of the present invention is to provide a predetermined counter in which the internal parts are loaded or stressed lightly to minimize wear, particularly under high speed operation.

Another specific object of the present invention is to provide a predetermined counter of this type which is relatively simple'both in construction and in operation.

Another specic object of the present invention is to provide a predetermined counter of this type characterized by its simplicity of adjustment for performing control operations at different selected number of shaft revolutions.

The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. This invention itself, both. as to its organization and manner of operation,`together with -further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the 'following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a View in front elevation of a counter embodying features of the present invention.

FIGURE 2 isa sectional view taken generally on the line 2-2 in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view showing some of the parts also illustrated in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 shows one of many different control systems in which the present invention may be embodied.

Referring to the drawings, the adjustable counting device includes a housing 10 having windows 11, 12 and 13 therein for viewing indicia on corresponding number wheels 15, 16 and 17, such number wheels comprising elements of a Veeder-Root type counter, which, for the present purposes, may be considered to have a drivable input shaft 19 whose revolutions are counted and indicated in conventional manner, the count indicated in FIGURE l being 645 turns. Also, the counter may be considered to have conventional manually operated reset means involving, for example, a reciprocable reset knob 22, the operaj tion of which results in resetting the counter to its zero position wherein there is then a reading of 000. Since reset mechanisms for Veeder-Root counters using a gear on a number wheel are well known, it is considered unnecessary to burden this disclosure with specific showings of entire reset mechanisms using a gear on a number wheel.

Referring to FIGURE 2, the number wheel 16, having indicia in the form of numbers 0 to 9 equally spaced on its outer periphery, has also formed therewith a twentytooth gear 24 rotatable about the axis of the counter shaft 25. It Will also be understood that conventional transfer mechanism is incorporated whereby a complete revolution of wheel 17 results in advancing of the next adjacent counter wheel 16 to the next highest indicia and that one complete revolution of the counter wheel 16 results in advancing of the next succeeding counter wheel 15 an angular distance corresponding to the spacing between numbers. In other words, the wheel'15 is the so called wheel, the wheel 16 is the flO wheel and the wheel 17 is the unit wheel. Important features of the present invention are now described in connection with only the l0 wheel 16 but it will be understood that each of the wheels 15, 16 and 17 serves to drive, through the gear thereon, a second gear 27, also a twenty-tooth gear, in constant mesh with the gear 24, such gear 27 and like gears associated with the number wheels 15 and 17 being rotatably mounted for independent rotation 4about the axis of shaft 28 supported suitably within housing 10 and with the axis of shaft ZSeXtending generally parallel with the axis of shaft 25.

A bevel gear 3) is concentrically mounted'on gear 2.7 and is in constant mesh with a bevel gear 31 on an elongatedsleeve 33, the sleeve 33 being rotatably or float-v ingly supportedon shaft 35 having one of its endsH supported in the bearing bracket 37 `and the other one of its,"

ends rotatably supported in the bearing portion 38 of housing 10. A hub 40 is iixed on shaft 35 by set screw 41 and limits axialmovement of sleeve 33 to thereby vmaintain the bevel gears 31 and 30 in constantmesh although, as mentioned previously, the bevellgear 31 is'allowed to rotate on shaft 35.

The sleeve y33 has mounted thereon an'arm, shown in the form of a disc 43,V and `mounted on a peripheral portion of such disc 43 is a permanent magnet 45 serving as a switching means and more specifically as a means 'for operatingr the reed-type switch 46 having a relatively stationary contact 46A and a relatively movable contact 46B on a flexible magnetizable arm 46C, thearm 46C being magnetically attracted to the permanent vmagnet 45 to effect closureof the contacts' 46A and 46Bwhen the switch 46 and permanent'magnet 45 are eachangularly aligned with respect totheaxis of shaft 35. Whilethe switch 46 is illustrated as being of the normally open type, it will be appreciated that the same'may be of the normally closed type which is open when actuated by the permanent magnet 45.

The switch arms 46C and 46D each have adjacent ends thereof iixedly mounted on a disc 49 of insulating mate,- rial and these arms are electrically connected respectively to corresponding wipers or brushes 51 and 52 .also mounted on the disc 49. These brushes 51 and 52 make contact with stationary contact rings 53 and 54 on insulated plate 55, the plate 55 being mounted on inner wall of housing 10. The contact rings 53 and 54 are concentric about the axis of shaft 35 and may be formed using printed circuit techniques in which printing of such contact rings is accomplished on the insulating plate 55.

A pointed knob 60 is mounted on shaft 35 and has its pointed end cooperating with numerals on a numeral plate 62 on the outer surface of housing10 for indicat- Patented `ian. -25, 1866 ingv the angular position of shaft 35 adjusted by manipulation of knob 60. The knoby 60 and shaft 35 on which it is mounted are releasably maintained in any one of ten indexed lpositions corresponding to the numbers O-9 on the numeral plate 62, suitableindexing means being provided for that purpose. Such indexing means mayfcomprise,; forl example, a small b all shaped, portion 66A of ay cantilever r supported leaf spring 66 into one of ten. equally spaced aperturedk portions 6,7 in shaft 35, such apertured portions 67 being equally spaced and corresponding angularly to the indicia on numeral plate 62.

Thus,` the knob. 60,l is structurally interrelated to the counter wheel 16 and in like manner the numeral wheels 1 5. and, 17 in FIGURE l are structurally interrelated in like manner to their corresponding knobs 70 and 71, the knobvv 70 being`r indexedA with respect toits numeral plate 72 and the knob 71 beingl indexed with respect to its numeral plate 73'.v

It.4 will beseen from the foregoing description that the angular ypositions of numeral wheel 1,6 and magnet 45 are related, even though theyA rotate about perpendicular axes when and as the numeral wheel 16, is. being rotated andpositioned..

The knob, 60 provides a means whereby the switch 46 may be positioned for actuation by the magnet 4S at a corresponding reading of numeral wheel 16. Thus, assuming that the knob 60 is indexed adjacent the numeral 4 on the, numeral plate 62, the switch 46 is actuated by thev permanent magnet 45 when the numeral wheel 16 is in its correspondingA 4 position.

The arrangement is thus capable of performing desirh able control operations, as now exemplied in the following, description of FIGURE 4. Suitable leads are connected to the contact rings 53 and 54 in FIGURE 2 and such leads (not shown) may extend through the housing 10, and be connected as now described in FIGURE 4 wherein the switch 46 is, the switch 46 of FIGURE 2 and the switches 75 and 76` are respectively those switches whose angular position is adjusted by corresponding yknobs 7,0- and 71.` The switches 46, 7S, 76 are connected in seriesv with, the source 80 and when all of such switches are closed, a latching relay 81 is energizedso as to deenergize the motor 83 which is energiz'able by the A.C.l

source 84, through a motor control relay circuit 85 and ON-OFF switch 86. The motor 83 serves to drive a coil Winder 89 through a mechanical connection indicated at 90;, and also, as exemplified, such coil Winder 819 may have Ia shaft 92 coupled to the shaft 19 of the counter shown in FIGURE l for driving the numeral wheels.

The functioning of the control may be checked by observing whether, as is required, the rnotor 83 is deenergized at the time when the reading on the numeral wheels 15, 16 and 17 corresponds to the preset corresponding positions of knobs 70, 60 and 71.

Referring again to FIGURE 2, by providing the gear Z4 on numeral wheel 16 and corresponding gears on the other numeral wheels, such gears may `also be used for resetting purposes. In such case the numeral, as for example, wheel 16 may have mounted thereon a heartshape'd cam 100 which is engaged by a cam roller 101 on one end of a pivoted arm 102 which is piv-oted about shaft 104 and is spring-urged by tension spring 105. The reset mechanism may involve also an arm 106 pivoted about` shaft 104 and carrying a gear 107 meshable with the number Wheel gear 24. In this particular type of reset which per se forms no part f the present invention, the `same may function such that when the cam roller ',101 moves into engagement with the cam 100, it first causes a release of pinions 107 and disengages them from the number wheels before such wheels start to reset with a systeml of springs and stops controlling the action of each arm, During resetting to zero position, the pinion 103 is moved out of engagement with its corresponding gear 24. This specific form of reset, per se, forms no part ef the present invention but ther foregoing brief 4 description of the reset mechanism is illustrative of the dual functions accomplished by the gear 24 on numerali wheel 16. The device may be reset by use of a toggle lever arm or by electrical means, and the element 22'- shown in the drawings is representative of a manually operated means for effecting resetting.

While the particular embodiments of the present in vention have been shown and described, it will be obvi ous to those skilled in the art that changes and modications may be made without departing from this invention in its broader aspects and, therefore, the aim in the appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifi cations as fall within the true spirit `and scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. In a preset counter of the character described, an arrangement comprising a stationary supporting. structure, a wheel having a plurality of circumferential dis posed indicia thereon rotatable on said structure about a rst axis, said wheel having rst gear means thereon, second gear means meshing with said rst gear means and rotatable on said structure about a second axis which is parallel to and spaced from said first axis, irst bevel gear means on saidy second gear means and' rotatablel about said second axis, a shaft having its axis extending'. perpendicular to said secondv axis and rotatably: mountedl on Vsaid structure, second bevel gear means rotatably mounted on said shaft, an arm attached to said secondi` bevel gear means and rotatable therewith, magnet means;y on the end of said arm movable in a circular path about the axis of said shaft, a second arm attached to said shaftv for rotating the same, a reed typeA switch having two terminals and actuable by said magnet means carried on said shaft, knob means carried on said shaft for rotat. ing the same and said switch along a second circular path coaxial with said first path, a -rpair of circular con tacts insulately mounted on said structure coaxial withv each other and with said shaft, a pair of wiper arms carried on said second arms and each connecting respectively a corresponding one of saidI terminals to a correa sponding one of said circular contacts, said switch being actuated by said magnet means only when said switch and magnet means are angularly aligned in their rotation about the axis of said shaft, and indexing means for releasably maintaining said shaft and switch in each of a plurality of positions corresponding respectively tov a corresponding one of said correspondingly disposed indicia.

2. A plurality of arrangements as set forth in claim 1 in which the circular contacts of each arrangement are connected in a series circuit, a voltage source in saidl series circuit, and control apparatus in said series circuit? which is operated when the indicia on each wheel in each arrangement corresponds to shaft positions indexedi by corresponding indexing means.

3. An arrangement as set forth in claim 2 including' a motor controlled by said control circuit, said motor being connected to said Wheels to rotate the same.

4. An arrangement as set forth in claim 3 including reset means for resetting said wheels, and the magnets of each arrangement, the indexed position of said shaft being unintluenced by operation of said resetting means.

References Cited bythe Examiner LE@ SMILOW, 'Primary Examiner. 

1. IN A PRESET COUNTER OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED, AN ARRANGEMENT COMPRISING A STATIONARY SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, A WHEEL HAVING A PLURALITY OF CIRCUMFERENTIAL DISPOSED INDICIA THEREON ROTATABLE ON SAID STRUCTURE ABOUT A FIRST AXIS, SAID WHEEL HAVING FIRST GEAR MEANS THEREON, SECOND GEAR MEANS MESHING WITH SAID FIRST GEAR MEANS AND ROTATABLE ON SAID STRUCTURE ABOUT A SECOND AXIS WHICH IS PARALLEL TO AND SPACED FROM SAID FIRST AXIS, FIRST BEVEL GEAR MEANS ON SAID SECOND GEAR MEANS AND ROTATABLE ABOUT SAID SECOND AXIS, A SHAFT HAVING ITS AXIS EXTENDING PERPENDICULAR TO SAID SECOND AXIS AND ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID STRUCTURE, SECOND BEVEL GEAR MEANS ROTATABLY MOUNTED ON SAID SHAFT, AN ARM ATTACHED TO SAID SECOND BEVEL GEAR MEANS AND ROTATABLE THEREWITH, MAGNET MEANS ON THE END OF SAID ARM MOVABLE IN A CIRCULAR PATH ABOUT THE AXIS OF SAID SHAFT, A SECOND ARM ATTACHED TO SAID SHAFT FOR ROTATING THE SAME, A REED TYPE SWITCH HAVING TWO TERMINALS AND ACTUABLE BY SAID MAGNET MEANS CARRIED ON SAID SHAFT, KNOB MEANS CARRIED ON SAID SHAFT FOR ROTATING THE SAME AND SAID SWITCH ALONG A SECOND CIRCULAR PATH COAXIAL WITH SAID FIRST PATH, A PAIR OF CIRCULAR CONTACTS INSULATELY MOUNTED ON SAID STRUCTURE COAXIAL WITH EACH OTHER AND WITH SAID SHAFT, A PAIR OF WIPER ARMS CARRIED ON SAID SECOND ARMS AND EACH CONNECTING RESPECTIVELY A CORRESPONDING ONE OF SAID TERMINALS TO A CORRESPONDING ONE OF SAID CIRCULAR CONTACTS, SAID SWITCH BEING ACTUATED BY SAID MAGNET MEANS ONLY WHEN SAID SWITCH AND MAGNET MEANS ARE ANGULARLY ALIGNED IN THEIR ROTATION ABOUT THE AXIS OF SAID SHAFT, AND INDEXING MEANS FOR RELEASABLY MAINTAINING SAID SHAFT AND SWITCH IN EACH OF A PLURALITY OF POSITIONS CORRESPONDING RESPECTIVELY TO A CORRESPONDING ONE OF SAID CORRESPONDINGLY DISPOSED INDICIA. 